The invention relates generally to a medical device and particularly to an apparatus and method associated with image guided medical procedures.
Image guided surgery (IGS), also known as image guided intervention (IGI), enhances a physician's ability to locate instruments within anatomy during a medical procedure. IGS can include 2-dimensional (2-D) and 3-dimensional (3-D) applications.
Existing imaging modalities can capture the movement of dynamic anatomy. Such modalities include electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated or respiratory-gated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices, ECG-gated or respiratory-gated computer tomography (CT) devices, and cinematography (CINE) fluoroscopy. The dynamic imaging modalities can capture the movement of anatomy over a periodic cycle of that movement by sampling the anatomy at several instants during its characteristic movement and then creating a set of image frames or volumes. Such images can be used to help a physician navigate a medical instrument to the desired location on the anatomical body during a medical procedure performed on the anatomical body at a later time.
Typical image-guided medical systems require manual user input to identify a pre-procedural image that corresponds to the same position and orientation of an anatomical body during a medical procedure. These manual operations can lead to greater errors and reduced efficiency in image-guided procedures.
Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus that can automatically identify pre-procedural images of a targeted anatomical body that can be used to help a physician navigate a medical instrument to a selected location on the anatomical body during a range of motion of the anatomical body.